Saturday, July 18, 2009

It's all good

Sadly this time in Paris is coming to an end, but I have hardly touched on the things we have done here in this blog.

And I am too busy doing such things to want to spend the time online.

It is the small things I have most enjoyed ... fresh baguettes from Julien Boulangerie in Beaubourg, breaking off the end and eating that on the short walk home, and especially on a cool day when the baguette is warm ...

walks along the seine and amongst the numerous gardens ... eating a few different tarts every week ... visiting the museums ... trying some different cheeses, especially the extra old mimolette and roquefort ...

checking out the dozens of beautiful and interesting old churches ... the fresh produce from the markets and shops ... visiting well known and especially the more obscure monuments ... picnics in the squares and parks ...

the falafels from L'as ... just walking amongst the architecture and looking up, always looking up and just wandering the streets, with no particular destination in mind, walking along whichever street looks the most interesting.

We have watched the seasons change from late winter through to early summer and have experienced freezing cold days, a mini heatwave (by french standards), driving rain and many lovely sunny days to just wander the streets, and experienced these in every month we have been in Paris. Some of the days in March were as sunny as they have been in July, if slightly cooler.

There has been music and theatre and art and culture.

I'll miss hanging out with Jean-Pierre for our french lessons and especially our french/english conversations, which often involved walking around somewhere in Paris. Also the guitar lessons with Jean-Pierre's son Kajetan who after 8 lessons can now play a handful of tunes on guitar and can play and understand all of the basic chords as well as how to find and read guitar tab.

It was fun trying to speak french, especially with strangers on the streets or in the shops. There were times when someone would ask me something on the streets ... usually where is such and such a place ... and I could answer them in french and they would understand ... these brought feelings of achievement. But then I would confuse the simple words or numbers, or just trip over my tongue, in what should have been a simple conversation, and feel like an idiot.

As always there have been annoying moments which I have tended not to talk about, it can be hard travelling for such an extended period of time, living amongst a foreign culture with only a suitcase worth of your own stuff. But I shan't dwell any further on this.

Most of all, I will just miss Paris. It's a beautiful, friendly, charming, relaxed city which I have found very easy to live in.

I plan to continue writing more posts once I have returned to Australia, further documenting our experiences in Paris and hopefully providing information to anyone who plans to visit, or just wants to get a feel for this gorgeous city.

It's going to be hard returning to Perth, the most isolated city in the world, but I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends again.

And in the meantime, we still have a few days left in Paris ... the city of love indeed!